Delhi High Court grants bail to Bangaru Laxman

The Delhi High Court Thursday granted bail to former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bangaru Laxman in a eleven-year old graft case. During a sting operation by a news portal, Laxman was caught on camera accepting a bribe in a fictitious defence deal.

Justice A.K. Pathak granted the bail to Laxman on a personal bond of Rs.50,000 with a surety of like amount.

Besides bail, 72-year-old Laxman sought from the court immediate suspension of his four-year jail term on the ground that he is suffering from many old-age related illnesses and is a diabetes patient.

A CBI special court April 28 sentenced Laxman to four years' jail after holding him guilty of taking a bribe and also fined him Rs.1 lakh.

The case dates to 2001 when news portal tehelka.com carried out a sting operation that caught Laxman on camera receiving cash from a journalist posing as an arms dealer. He later resigned as the BJP president.

Tehelka had released CDs showing Laxman accepting money for promise of assistance to a fictitious Britain-based company M/s West End International in securing a contract for the supply of thermal imagers to the Indian Army.